Maverick ends school year on high note with grad celebration

The graduating class from Maverick School celebrated their success during a graduation ceremony on June 12.

It was a night for celebration and reflection at the iPlex Centre in Swift Current on June 12th as 15 Maverick School students celebrated their graduation.

Family, friends, teachers and school board members gathered to offer congratulations and best wishes to the Class of 2014.

“Graduates, your hard work, dedication, enthusiasm for learning and commitment to learning and to graduating should be applauded,” Chinook School Division Deputy Director Kyle McIntyre said during his address to the graduates.

“These achievements are your achievements,” echoed Chinook Board of Education Chairperson Randy Beler. “They are the culmination of your efforts. Your challenge now is to take the foundation that you have and to build on it and create a satisfying life for yourself.”

The graduation ceremony feature a banquet and slide show, as well as an award show. The winners were Chris Paulhus, who received the Innovation Credit Union Spirit Award, and Kelly Lincoln, who was awarded the Ron Thurbide Memorial Bursary. Also, former Maverick student Parker Houghtaling was honoured with the 2013 Governor General’s Academic Medal.

Of course, the high point of the night was the presentation of diplomas, during which each individual student was introduced and congratulated by one of the Maverick teachers. It was a special moment for the students, some of which had been out of the school system for over a year before coming to Maverick.

“I look at these guys (students) and I just smile because they’re awesome,” Maverick principal Jayne Nicholson said after the ceremony. “They’re amazing young people.”

Nicholson’s address to those in attendance focused on the important role many of these students will play in the future. That’s a theme she continued to emphasize afterwards.

“When I say I really think the world needs people like them I mean that,” she said. “They are free thinkers. They think outside the box. They will stand up for a cause. I believe they’re the kinds of leaders our world needs going forward.”

The graduation quote for the evening was “you cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself one.” That quote served as the inspiration for many of the speeches on the night.

“Remember that life reveals and develops character,” McIntyre said in ending his address. “Best of luck hammering and forging yours.”